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3000 visitors/day but very poor monetization!
Posted by VersiVirens • 7/31/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
I've got a blog that's been going pretty well lately. But for some reason, I cant seem to take much advantage from a monetization point of view.
Can anyone recommend any tips?
the URL is bariumtitanate.blogspot.com
User Comments
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How about some relevant adverts for a start? -
Versi
Where is your traffic coming from? If you are getting most of your traffic from stumble/digg/ etc. You should be seeing nothing more than a few clicks to begin with.
2. All your ads are below the fold. (users have to scroll to find them)
If you want ads performing better you need ads that are either top right (below your search box) Above your first post (banner ad) or embedded in the first post (large square)
3. also consider your theme, The green links are hard to read on a white background. try reading your page in a bright surrounding and you'll see what i mean. (I'm guessing you have a dark cozy computer room)
4. Your right hand navigation link unit is not color matched. Consider switching it for something that's better blended.
5. theme / ad link colors - Generally, Blue works best,
Since Netscape 1.0 - We have been conditioned to think that hyperlinks should be blue, Even through that is no longer the absolute truth, it still works on a subconscious level.
6. The square boxes 250 by 250 and up works better than most other. After them come the large scyscraper ads. 120/160 by 600
Good luck.-
talk to me about adbrite, chief! any good?
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Yes adbrite is fine, Actually. Both the "google adsense" ads you see on my site are actually adbrite code.
Adbrite allows you to set up a "secondary" ad server, which they will show if they can't meet your price. So what i did was to figure out what my averate CPM on adsense was and put that as my price for adbrite. Most of the time, they can't beat it, so they show adsense.
Most importantly. AdSense allow adbrite content on the same page, which is good since their TOS is pretty strict.
I like adbrite. although i have to say that their targeting is a little less accurate than adsense. We'll see if it gets better or not.
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Meh, I've gotten upwards of 8,000 visitors/day during peak traffic times; and never got a single penny from my website. Oh wait, that's because I'm not a sellout.
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Easy there Voodoo. lol
Don't rip his arm off just yet. -
8k a day? damn. that's amazing.
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you may get 3000 visitors per day, but I will bet at least half never make it past the title, and probably at least a 3rd that do get past there never read a post because of the format.
You need something to demarcate the posts from each other as well as the ads. Just scanning the blog I have no way to see where each post begins. I would also pay some attention to the typography on the site. The title (big green text), and the subtitle beneath it could be more comfortably readable with a different font choice, or not using all caps.
Maybe an intro of what EEStor is would help as well. -
Thanks for all the tips. I tried to implement a mod to the template so that longer postings had a MORE link but i never got it working. I'm thinking of hiring someone on scriptlance to fix that. actually, shoot me a private msg if you think you can fix that....willing to pay you obviously.
as for traffic makeup. it's actually good in the sense that only 1/3 is new traffic....each visit lasts avg 6 min and people view 2.65pgs/visit. that's much better than my other blogs.
is there a way that I can configure adsense to send me more relevant ads? how do i do that? i thought ads were picked automatically...and you had no real choice since it was based on keywords. correct?
voodoo, you've chewed me out before about monetization questions. I think we may have different goals and will just have to shake hands and agree to disagree...respectfully.-
You go Versi!
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I have? Sorry, I can't be bothered to keep up with the "make money online" people. I usually just scream "You are the cancer that is killing StumbleUpon" and walk away.
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Where did you get the template scripting for the "more" thing? I do the same with my blogspot blog and it allows me to insert an adsense ad into the body of my posts.
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versi!!!
your blog is not that cool!!! -
actually, now that i think about it. what i'd really like to do is get together with an expert in this area at a starbucks somewhere in the washington dc area and obtain a tutorial in person, laptop to laptop. I'd be willing to pay a pretty penny to get this type of advise. any takers from wash dc area???
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Honestly, people can get thousands and thousands of visitors from social bookmarking sites and stuff but that doesn't really help. Most of the ad clickers come from search engines...
Oh, and people are usually turned off with .blogspot blogs -
Good points but everyone has to start somewhere. Blogger and Wordress are excellent places to learn basic skills. Most click throughs do come from search engines but page impressions on your site are also very important. You can learn from visitor patterns and also use your traffic to earn cash in different ways. I.E Blog Rush credits etc
Good Luck
wealth-wizard.blogspot.com
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voodooKobra is one of those people with no clue. If the only people that blogged were the ones that did it for free we'd have a lot of useless crap like all the MySpace pages. Bloggers that write worthwhile articles are typically professionals and don't work for free.
The cancer that is killing SU? Give me a break. People like you are going to eventually kill quality blogs. The hell with SU.
As for monetizing the site, it's impossible to say unless we know where your traffic is coming from. As was mentioned earlier, if it's coming from SU and Digg it will never produce good results. Those surfers don't even stay on your site more than a few seconds most of the time, or at the most, only long enough to read your post and then go scurrying back to Digg or clicking the next Stumble.-
[If the only people that blogged were the ones that did it for free we'd have a lot of useless crap like all the MySpace pages.]
Not necessarily true. And it's one thing to have ads on your page if they're out of the way and YOUR CONTENT IS ORIGINAL. Repeated, rehashed advice and other bullshit is tiring.
[Bloggers that write worthwhile articles are typically professionals and don't work for free.]
I beg to differ.
www.howtonotsuck.com/index.php
identitycheck-anok.blogspot.com
www.offendedblogger.com - plenty of widgets, no ads
www.travisjmorgan.com/blog
See any ads on any of these? There are a lot of good writers who maintain websites that fall into the blog category that don't do it for the money. It's called artistic integrity.
Here's another: maddox.xmission.com
[The cancer that is killing SU? Give me a break. People like you are going to eventually kill quality blogs. The hell with SU.]
Making money doesn't affect the quality of your output. If anything, it cheapens it. Pay-per-post is a good example to follow-up that assertion: Blog about something in a positive manner, using specific keywords as specified by the buyer, and get paid for it. What if your opinion of the product is very negative? People still write about those products anyway, because it pays the bills.
Additionally, you have these greedy, self-serving assholes who steal blog posts from other blogs and flood StumbleUpon with their crappy plagiarism in a desperate attempt to swindle a few dollars from advertisers. This devalues existing websites where the authors ACTUALLY produce content good enough to counteract the advertising, making them lose money in the process.
So as you can see, your [voodooKobra is one of those people with no clue] assertion falls flat on its face. The blogs I'm criticizing are responsible for a very lose-lose situation. -
I stand by my original assertion. The examples you posted are far from what I would call good blogs. The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and BoingBoing are good blogs. Look at the top blogs on Technorati and tell me how many of them have no ads on them.
Nowadays almost everyone has a blog but the ones that are worth reading seldom have no commercialism. Your blog gets very little traffic but a blog that gets hundreds of thousands of hits a day will usually need to be hosted on a dedicated server costing several hundred dollars a month. Do you think those bloggers should pay for their own hosting just so you don't have to have your eyes offended by a few adds?
Hey, if you don't want to put ads on your blog that's your business, but belittling others that try to make a buck with their blogs is out of line. Why are you even part of Blog Catalog? Do you realize that the primary purpose of this site is to help bloggers succeed and that most of those bloggers -- as anyone can tell from the majority of the posts in the discussions -- are hoping to make a few bucks doing it. -
Out of line? Who decides that?
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While I agree people are free to monetize as they like, I don't believe monetization is the key to a quality blog. That's that pesky little thing we like to call "content." Or "caring about your writing." Or "having a voice and something to say."
And I believe you can do that with or without monetization. The key is in determination, the willingness to hone your craft, and continuity. -
I agree with voodoo & Thriftshop on this. Hugh you seem to be saying that blogs that don't do it for money are like a bunch of silly myspace blogs, where they blog about what they ate for dinner.
The fact is that's not true. As 2 exampes, Mark Stoneman & Robert Stevenson, write high quality blogs and they don't do it to make money. I mention these 2, but there are plenty out there.
I had a look at your blog and a few others here, and I don't think the writing compares at all to the two exaples I gave. And I also don't think it's my job to make you money by clicking on ads on your blog...or anyone elses, for that matter.
If ya wanna make money blogging that's cool. But blogs that make money are in no way of a higher quality than those that don't. As for the Huffington Post ... well ... are you really comparing yourself to them?
language4you.wordpress.com/
robertstevenson.wordpress.com/ -
Yeah maddox doesn't need to do anything with his site when he:
a) asks for donations
b) gets a book deal
c) gets a radio show
He monetized himself in a different way....
As far as the people you mentioned... While I respect all of them Chelle is the only one with enough traffic to even start to think about putting ads up. Even then because it is a humor blog she isn't going to make shit. (I am speaking for experience with that.)
You are hoping all over the place with your arguments. Pay per post and throwing a few ads on a sidebar are two TOTALLY different things. One is selling your opinion and one is selling space.
As far as Hugh's debate... well I mean when you cite three of the most trafficked blogs I mean... Come on. I get when you get to a certain size you need some cash flowing in but to bash people that don't monetize is a bit much. Scoble didn't forever and neither do a lot of well read social media blogs. -
Pointless Banter, I'm not bashing anyone that has a blog with no ads, I'm bashing the people that bash those of us that do have ads.
Drowsey Monkey I have several blogs where the writing is professional, the blog I have linked to this profile is far from a professional blog since it's anonymous and anyone can post. I'm also not saying that a blog that doesn't utilize ads can't be a quality blog, I'm just tired of these people that think everything on the Net should be free complaining about advertising or making negative remarks about blogs that are commercial.
The remark that pissed me off was Voodoos ridiculous comment about not being a sellout inferring that any of us that utilize advertising are. The remark was completely uncalled for considering this thread was started by someone asking for advice on how to monetize his site. If Voodoo didn't have anything constructive to add he should have kept his mouth shut. -
Cool. I get that.
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Understood.
On the flip side of that, some of us who've chosen not to monetize for whatever reason have been told in the past that our blogs shouldn't be cluttering up the Internet. As if the creative act itself wasn't worthwhile unless it was a revenue-generator. So it's a bit of a touchy subject from that side, too.
Especially when many of us care deeply about the content we put out there, and enjoy the outlet of blogging immensely.
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Maybe try and get your users to sign up to a newsletter. Slowly introduce an ad or two and also include affiliate links in your articles.....slowly slowly
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All have been said by csiunatc and
I think the tittle is too big... -
Am I too late for this discussion?
Versi, it looks like your blog has interesting content, but it's visually boring. Some color, maybe? some graphics? And the ads are barely visible. You can change Google ads to "text and graphic" format. Also, colorful ads (or in-text links) with affiliate offers could be good. You can look at cj.com for something connected to your blog's topic. Good luck.
P.S. Removing a navbar may also be a good idea. -
try adbrite:)
or other ...
have a nice day -
If your traffic numbers are correct and most visitors already of a "technical" interest in your content - then, visual asthetics means little to them!
In fact, because your site is "technical" in nature - I would stick to that format.
1. Drop down to one feature article on front page.
2. Get self-hosted so it doesn't "look like a blog."
3. Use "inline text" advertising and let your technical writing sell for you! 3K a month in technical oriented traffic shows the draw is already available.
4. I did have a hard time trying to figure out why you wish to "monetize" an anoymous blog... but, I loved the content anyways! I have a "green" idea that I have been researching for several years now and am almost ready for product development phase.
Whatever your motives... good job and great effort too! -
I have a post contribute:
Twenty income streams for bloggers
onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/twenty-income-streams-for-bloggers/ -
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All of this are fraud
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To gain Visitors fast you have to make your url small. Visit tinyurl.com and make your blog url small. After that take one Video Camera shoot a small clip of your Blog by telling visit this url and tell them what benefit they are going to get when you visit this url.
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